104 Stay Away
The background is white. ; Panel 1 Zane, standing about four feet in front of Novacek's corpse nearly thigh-deep in snow, looks on in despair, his eyes small, blank circles and his eyebrows drawn together. He says "Was this my doing too. Mr. Novacek I'm so sorry." There's no punctuation, giving the lines a stream-of-consciousness feeling, and the speech bubble outlines are the usual black, but the words are dark red. The snow is starting to pile up around the corpse and cover the bloodstains on the ground, and Novacek's broken and twisted glasses are in the foreground, sticking straight out of the snow. The snow and wind swirl around the scene, washing out Zane and the corpse, and the background is completely white. There's no panel border for this or any of the other panels, giving the strip a surreal feeling. ; Panel 2. Zane holds the corkscrew and looks down at it, saying "Why can't I remember?" Then, in larger text, "*Damn you! I came back!*" The text is dark red, as is the border of the speech bubble. Zane is trembling and starting to cry, and his expression is distraught. ; Panel 3. A voice from offscreen says "Hey." The text and speech bubble border are the usual black. Zane, still holding the corkscrew, turns his head quickly, his tears flying off of his face. His eyebrows are raised, his mouth is open in surprise, and his eyes are small, blank circles. Several thin red lines come from his head, indicating how startled he is. ; Panel 4. Maurice and Morris are walking toward Zane. The heavy snow and wind is washing them out, and Morris' body is almost impossible to see, while Maurice is holding on to his hat and reaching tentatively out for Zane. He says "...Wadsworth? What the *blazes* are you doing out here in *this* weather --" Zane's hand trembles as he holds the corkscrew by his side. He says, in large text, "*Stay back, Maurice! Stay away from me!*" His words are dark red, while the border of the speech bubble is a bright, jarring red. ; Panel 4. Zane holds one trembling hand straight out in front of him, his palm turned towards Maurice and Morris. Tears fall from his eyes and his eyebrows are drawn together as he continues, in large, dark red text with bright red borders, "I don't know what I'm capable of anymore! I--" There's a "Cht." noise written with uneven lettering near the right side of the panel in light blue. Zane's coloring appears to be washed out and tinged with red on that side. ; Panel 5. Zane, still holding the corkscrew, turns his head and looks behind him nervously as the wind and snow blow past him. In the background, Maurice and Morris are approaching him, Maurice's hand still reaching out tentatively and his eyebrows drawn together. A sound from behind Zane continues "Cht. Cht. Chchhc. Tchch. Chttch." The words are in light blue and are drawn in a wavy, uneven pattern, and get larger towards the border of the strip. Zane's back and the back of his head appear to have a reddish tinge. The three straight lines are visible to his side.